The railroad industry employs a variety of auto-rack railroad cars for transporting newly-manufactured vehicles such as automobiles, vans, and trucks. Auto-rack railroad cars, known in the railroad industry as auto-rack cars, often travel thousands of miles through varying terrain. Auto-rack cars can have one deck, and often are compartmented, having two or three decks. Each auto-rack car typically has multiple vertically extending doors at each end of the auto-rack car. Newly manufactured vehicles are loaded into and unloaded from an auto-rack car for transport by one or more persons (each sometimes called a “loader”) who drive the vehicles into or out of the auto-rack car (when the respective doors are open).
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, one type of known auto-rack car indicated by numeral 10 includes a frame 12 supported by trucks 14a and 14b, each of which have several wheels (such as wheel 16) configured to roll along railroad tracks 18. The frame 12 supports two opposing sidewalls 20a and 20b and a roof 22
One problem relating to certain known auto-rack cars such as auto-rack car 10 involves the doors and associated door locking assemblies of these auto-rack cars. In certain of these known auto-rack cars, each end of the auto-rack car includes two separately openable doors that are respectively hingedly connected along opposite vertical edges of a door frame. This enables the doors to swing outwardly from the transverse plane of the door frame (relative to the tracks) to provide access to the interior of the auto-rack car. In certain of these known auto-rack cars, each door includes a plurality of connected sections. Each section is hingedly attached to an adjacent section by one or more vertically extending hinges. More specifically, in many of these known auto-rack cars, each door includes a first section hingedly connected to a vertical edge of the door frame by vertically extending hinges, a second section hingedly connected to the first section by vertically extending hinges, and a third section hingedly connected to the second section by vertically extending hinges.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, known auto-rack car 10 includes a first door 40a hingedly connected along a first vertical edge of the door frame 30. The first door 40a includes: (a) a first section 42a hingedly connected to the first vertical edge of the door frame 30 by a plurality of vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 43a); (b) a second section 44a hingedly connected to the first section 42a by vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 45a); and (c) a third section 46a hingedly connected to the second section 44a by vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 47a). Known auto-rack car 10 also includes a second door 40b hingedly connected to a second vertical edge of door frame 30. The second door 40b includes: (a) a first section 42b hingedly connected to the second vertical edge of the door frame 30 by vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 43b); (b) a second section 44b hingedly connected to the first section 42b by vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 45b); and (c) a third section 46b hingedly connected to the second section 44b by vertically extending hinges (such as hinge 47b).
In certain of these known auto-rack cars, each end of the auto-rack car also includes multiple door locking assemblies for each door. More specifically, in certain of these known auto-rack cars, two vertically extending door rod locking assemblies are attached to each door (including a first or outer door rod locking assembly and a second or inner door locking assembly). Other such known auto-rack cars only include a single (inner) door locking assembly attached to each door. Each door rod locking assembly includes an elongated lock rod rotatably attached to an exterior side of the respective section of the door by a plurality of vertically spaced apart brackets. The lock rod is rotatable about a vertically extending axis that is slightly spaced from the outer surface of the door to facilitate rotation of the lock rod. Each door rod locking assembly also includes a handle attached to and extending transversely from the lock rod to facilitate selective rotation of the lock rod.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, known auto-rack car 10 includes: (a) an outer door rod locking assembly 50a rotatably connected to the first section 42a of door 40a; (b) an inner door locking assembly 70a connected to the second section 44a of door 40a; (c) an outer door rod locking assembly 50b rotatably connected to the first section 42b of door 40b; and (d) an inner door locking assembly 70b connected to the second section 44b of door 40b. The outer door rod locking assembly 50a includes a relatively short lock rod 52a and a handle 54a attached to and extending radially from the lock rod 52a. The inner door locking assembly 70a includes a relatively long lock rod 72a and a handle 74a attached to and extending transversely from the lock rod 72a. The outer door rod locking assembly 50b includes a relatively short lock rod 52b and a handle 54b attached to and extending transversely from the lock rod 52b. The inner door locking assembly 70b includes a relatively long lock rod 72b and a handle 74b attached to and extending transversely from the lock rod 72b. 
In certain of these known auto-rack cars, certain of the door rod locking assemblies include an upper cam structure including an upper locking tongue or finger that transversely extends from the lock rod. Upon suitable rotation of the lock rod, the upper locking tongue of the upper cam structure coacts with an upper tongue receiver (secured at the top of the door frame) to provide a useful mechanical advantage to close the door and secure the door in the closed position. Likewise, certain of the door rod locking assemblies include a lower cam structure including a lower locking tongue or finger that transversely extends from the lock rod. Upon suitable rotation of the lock rod, the lower locking tongue of the lower cam structure coacts with a lower tongue receiver (secured at the bottom of the door frame) to provide a useful mechanical advantage to close the door and secure the door in the closed position.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, known auto-rack car 10 includes: (a) an upper cam structure 76a attached to the top of the lock rod 72a, and that includes an upper locking tongue or finger 78a that extends from the lock rod 72a; and (b) a lower cam structure 80a attached to the bottom of the lock rod 72a, and that includes an lower locking tongue or finger (not shown) that extends from the lock rod 72a. Known auto-rack car 10 also includes: (a) an upper cam structure 76b attached to the top of the lock rod 72b, and that includes an upper locking tongue or finger (not shown) that extends from the lock rod 72b; and (b) a lower cam structure (not labeled) attached to the bottom of the lock rod 72b, and that includes a lower locking tongue or finger (not shown) that extends from the lock rod 72b. FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 also show certain of the upper and lower tongue receivers such as tongue receivers 81a, 81b, and 82a. 
In certain of these known auto-rack cars, certain door rod locking assemblies only include a lower cam structure including a lower locking tongue or finger that transversely extends from the relatively short lock rod. Upon suitable rotation of the lock rod, the lower locking tongue of the lower cam structure coacts with a lower tongue receiver (secured at the bottom of the door frame) to provide a useful mechanical advantage to close the door and secure the door in the closed position.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, known auto-rack car 10 includes: (a) a lower cam structure 58a attached to the bottom of the lock rod 52a, and that includes a lower locking tongue or finger (not shown) that extends from the lock rod 52a; and (b) a lower cam structure (not labeled) attached to the bottom of the lock rod 52b, and that includes an lower locking tongue or finger (not shown) that extends from the lock rod 52b. FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 also show lower tongue receivers such as lower tongue receiver 83a. 
In certain of these known auto-rack cars, the lock rods are made of steel tubing, the handles are made of steel, the upper cams are made of steel, the lower cams are made of steel, and the tongue receivers are made of steel.
During use or operation of certain such known auto-rack cars, such locking assemblies are sometimes subjected to various damaging impacts or forces. For example, during the coupling process for two such known adjacent auto-rack cars, one or more of the opposing respective couplers (such as coupler 90 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4) of the two adjacent auto-rack cars that are being connected may not be aligned. In such situations, one or more of the couplers of the two adjacent auto-rack cars are at an offset or angled position when the auto-rack cars come together for coupling. When this happens, the offset or angled coupler of one of the auto-rack cars can engage the opposing auto-rack car (to which it is suppose to be coupled) in an undesired position. This undesired position of the coupler can cause the couple to engage the lower portion of one of the inner door rod locking assemblies. Specifically, the offset coupler (which is at approximately at the same height or level as the lower portions of the inner door rod locking assemblies 70a and 70b shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4) can impact and damage such lower cam structure and/or the lower portion of the lock rod of either of the inner door rod locking assemblies. For example, the lower cam structure 80a and/or the bottom of the lock rod 72a may be damaged by such an offset coupler. In such instances, such damaged components can become difficult to operate or can become inoperable such that the inner door rod locking assembly does not properly operate or operate at all. This can prevent the door from properly closing or opening, which creates various issues.
In such cases, the damaged inner door rod locking assembly cannot be easily, quickly, or efficiently repaired because the entire lock rod, lower cam, and upper cam that are formed as one integral member need to be replaced. More specifically, when this damage occurs, the damaged auto-rack car must be taken out of service and brought into repair shop. This known repair is done in a repair shop (instead of in the field or in a railroad yard) partially for safety reasons due to the height of the auto-rack car. This process takes the damaged auto-rack car out of service for repair and is thus time consuming, inefficient, and costly.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve these problems.